NOW MY WEEK

IS OFFICIALLY OVER

210 bits of routine radio chatter and 33 incoming calls. A quiet night. Days were pretty busy, as I had guessed, but the"spill-over" didn't last much past 8p.

One interesting call a little past 1a. A extremely intoxicated male tourist.

"Good morning. Royal Cab."

"I need a cab"

"Where are you at sir?"

"I'm sitting on the corner of some street and Kihei Way."

"Which street, sir?"

"I don't know."

"How about looking up at the street sign and tell me what it says."

"Okay."

Very looonnnggg pause

"I'll spell it. Okay?"

"Thats great sir."

"P-E-D X I-N-G. Its close to the 76 station."

"How about you do my driver a favor and walk over to the 76 station and we'll pick you up there. Okay?"

"K.'

TMR (#27) found him and got him to his condo. Said, after dropping, that he was in worse shape than I described in the dispatch.

***

I hope all of you have a great day/week.

See you tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

***

Well, whatever popularity this blog may have enjoyed is rapidly fading. Stats are pretty clear on that.

41K+ visitors / 51K+ page loads
Since April 4, 2006

Any suggestions?

***

OUT OF THE OL' MAILBAG:

THIS IS WHAT SAD LOOKS LIKE

THIS IS WHAT SORRY LOOKS LIKE

BAD SPELLING

PRIVACY PLEASE

LOUD ENOUGH FOR YOU?

BAD JUDGMENT

SHOCKING ACCIDENT

POLICE HARD AT WORK

McBURNT

I'D RATHER HOLD IT

PILE UP

THIS IS GOING TO HURT

FORGOT SOMETHING?

+++

Little Sally came home from school and, with a smile on her face, told her mother,

"Frank Brown showed me his 'willy' today!"

Before the mother could raise a concern, Sally went on to say,

"It reminded me of a peanut"

Relaxing with a hidden smile, Sally's Mum asked,

"Really small was it?"

Sally replied,

"No...salty!"

***

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Polynesian Cultural Center- O'ahu

Polynesia

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

AND THE WEEK ENDS

WITH A "BANG"!

I am bone dead exhausted. 4 fan-fucking-tastic nights in a row. Only because its been so slow for so long I had forgotten what a normal shift is like. Last night, actually this entire week, has been what I used to consider as normal. It been well over a year since business was this good.

Got out of town TWICE last night. Once to OGG from Wailea and a second time to Wailuku from Wailea. After the OGG I was sent to do a pickup from Mama's Fish House back to Wailea. A day driver had dropped them at 7p or so and the owner figured that I was the closest cab and they should probably be getting ready to return, it was a little after 9p. Dropped my OGG at 9:15p and was at Mama's by 9:25p. Went inside to the Maitre d' and asked him to let the party know that I was there when they were ready. Emphasized that I didn't want them to feel rushed by my message, just that they had a ride when they finished dining. They weren't there! Well, maybe they were strolling the beautiful grounds, which isn't uncommon. Advised dispatch that I couldn't find them but would linger around. At 10:10p dispatch advised me that they had just called. They were back at their resort in Wailea and wouldn't need a ride. A dining companion had given them a ride back. Altogether, a lost hour of income.

Our new driver & Saturday night dispatcher, Terry (#07), from 9p to 2a got a real workout. I would grade him at a B+ for last night. Which is actually EXCELLENT since it was only his second night with the phone.

We were rolling "hot-n-heavy" from when I logged in until 2:30a. Bar close was a madhouse. Just three of us to cover about 20 fares at bar-close, most of which went into Wailea and Makena. All good fares but also time consuming. 10 to 20 minutes out and the same amount of time back.

2 of the day drivers checked in very, very early this morning. Prim (#22) at 2:30a and Flor (#27) at 3:40a. Maybe, just maybe, it might be because they were aware of a Wailea to Kapalua at 5:30a. Thats about $120, one-way.

About 4a, while I was home doing up all the paperwork for the day shift, I get a call from a little Filipina lady. She spoke so softly that it was impossible to hear her. Every time I asked her to speak louder, she would do just the opposite. I eventually gave up and disconnected. This is not the first time this has happened. It must be a cultural thing that I don't understand. When I begged her to YELL, she whispered even more softly. I even turned the headset volume to the max with no improvement.

If you were asked to speak louder, wouldn't you?
Maybe one of my "island" readers can explain this in a comment.

15 fares / 154 miles / 2nd quarter $200 bracket

Dispatch from home tonight from 6p to 2a. The large group that replaced the luxury car dealers is leaving today and so it should be busy.

***

To my Canadian readers:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Makena Area
Mau'i

Big Beach
Makena
Mau'i

Ahini Kinau Natural Area Reserve
Makena
Mau'i

Coming Soon

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

WILL TONIGHT

GIVE ME A "FULL-HOUSE"?

4 good nights in a row!

I sit here stunned and have my (fill in the blank) crossed that tonight will give me "four-of-a-kind" or at least a "full-house". But I have learned not to hold my breath. This business has too many variables to predict anything except seasonal trends and even those have broad parameters.

A lot of nice people in the cab last night. A Friday night without one bad passenger. Thats rare. I have been very lucky this entire week (knock on wood).

It was Friday so it was my "phone" night. The only obnoxious call was out of Moose. Moose closes at midnight and I received a request for a cab for 2 going to the "Triangle", just over 1 mile north. Send TMR (#27). No one ever showed up. A "10-13". About 12:30a the security guard at Kihei Kai Nani, next door to Moose calls for 2 people going to the "Triangle". Again, it was TMR who responded with the exact same results. He contacted the guard who said the people wandered off after he called. I had heard the male's voice in the background when I spoke with the guard. 15 minutes later, the guy calls directly. I declined the call, I wasn't sending any cab back for a 3rd try. 5 minutes later the distaff side of the pair called. Again I declined. This couple are regulars and tend to be very lax at meeting a cab in a timely manner. We were too busy to play their game or accommodate their whims. He called back in less than 2 minutes and began cussing me out.

[click]

Only left town once last night. One of my 6 dog-watch fares took me to the "baseyard" which is 2/3rds of the way to Kahului. Any change of scenery, however minimal, is always appreciated.

19 fares / 135 miles / 3rd quarter $200 bracket

***

I woke up exhausted yesterday. Actually slept until 4:30p. A couple of other drivers mentioned that they had slept later than normal also. Must be the weather or something. Not that I can see any noticeable difference.

Anyway. A quick sandwich and off to bed.

Stop by tomorrow if you can.

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Ho'okipa Beach
Mau'i

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DID I MENTION ...

THAT JIMMY BUFFETT WAS HERE?

He played a private concert Tuesday night for that luxury car group that was in Wailea this week. Then he did a public concert in Honolulu last night.

***

~Matt & Sasha ~
Local residents.
Aren't they a cute couple?

***

Even cops get hungry

***

It was a good shift. A VERY good shift.

At 7:23p I am sent to for an 8:30p Wailea/Lahaina. I double checked with dispatch that it was actually 8:30p and not 7:30p. Oops! Premature call. Resumed #1 up, knowing that there was no way in Hell that I would get a second chance at THAT fare. But the consolation turned out okay when I rolled out of Wailea to OGG, 10 minutes later. Worked out good for me in another way also. I was running low on copy paper and business card blanks and stopped by Office Max on my return. Oh, my fare was a very nice lady returning home to the Manchester, NH USA area.

When I made it back to town I got a central Kihei to Wailea, dinner return. From that I rolled into a fare from The Shops At Wailea back to far north Kihei. From there on out, that was how my night went. By 10p there were only the 3 scheduled night cabs on and we hardly ever stopped moving. I even had 3 decent runs on the dog-watch.

If only the rest of this week/month will follow suite with the first 3 days, I could get some "breathing room" back in my budget. Snowball chance in Hell.

17 fares / 149 miles / 3rd quarter $200 bracket

Enjoy your weekend!

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

AH!
To Be Young Again

Spouting Horn
Kaua'i

Beautiful Colors

Diamond Head
O'ahu

O'ahu
Windward Side

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

THE NIGHT STARTED

WITH A CLUSTER-FUCK

Our poor afternoon/early evening dispatcher, "Tree", was way out his element last night. He's pretty good with routine traffic. Even active routine traffic. But there were so many multi-cab orders in a short period that he got flustered. I don't think the other drivers picked up on it but having been there myself, I could detect the slight change in his voice. He's been dispatching from 1p to 9p on the weeknights for a few months now. He is starting to get smooth but this was a quiet summer. He still has a few more months until the (hopefully) "Winter Season" starts. About 5 days before Christmas. I have faith in him.

I made money last night. No. Really. I did.
The first 90 minutes of the shift were packed with Wailea pu-pus. Large groups going to various restaurants. Then the focus shifted to dinner returns from Kihei. Which blended into the bar-rush. Finally quieted down just before midnight. I had 2 bar-close, one of which took me to Kahului Harbor and The Pride of Hawaii, and 1 dog-watch.

Since "Crazy" Brian is on vacation, Kimo covered his dispatch on Tuesday night. Last night was Kimo's regularly scheduled night in the "hot-seat". Tonight is TMR's turn and it didn't seem fair that anyone should have to be "it" two nights in a row, so I volunteered to cover. Then I'll have my regular night tomorrow, Friday.

Picked up a couple, out of Miami FL USA, from far north Kihei before 10p and took them to Sansei. Arrived at 9:52 but it turned out that Sansei closes at 10p. Most restaurants quit seating at 10p but don't close the kitchen. The only possible place for sushi at that hour is Isana, just a short distance from where we started. Later they tried calling me for a return. Their phone was malfunctioning and would not transmit any sound in either direction. They must have called 15 times in 5 minutes. On the third call, it dawned on me that the area code being displayed was from Miami. I was their hero! When I pulled up to Isana, they were impressed that I had put 2 & 2 together and responded.

My dog-watch was a bartender out of the "Triangle". He commented that this was the busiest night he had seen in a long time.

COME ON SNOW!

The sooner the snow starts sticking in North America, the sooner our "snowbirds" start arriving. I hope you folks have the coldest/wettest/snowiest winter in history this year.

16 fares / 123 miles / 1st quarter $200 bracket

***

I don't know if you have seen this yet but blogger has a new feature.

Blogger Play: Watch the blogs go by

Today we’re pleased to launch Blogger Play, a neat little toy we’ve cooked up to show you photos and blog posts as you’ve never seen them before.

Shortly after Blogger launched photo uploading two years ago, one of our engineers whipped up a web page that would show us the pictures that were being uploaded in real time. The result was fun, often beautiful, but above all, compelling. We couldn’t stop watching.

Over the years we’ve kept this photo scroller as part of the Blogger offices, on a monitor or projector, as an interesting (distracting?) slideshow, and a reminder of the diversity and vivaciousness of Blogger blogs. The fame of the scroller spread within Google, until one day we were asked, “so, when are you launching this?”

“Um...,” we replied. But we knew a good idea when we heard one. We got our UI people to come up with buttons and fadey effects and we got our engineers to make the whole thing fast and robust. A bit of work later, and now we can share it with all of you:

http://play.blogger.com/

Blogger Play will show you a never-ending stream of images that were just uploaded to public Blogger blogs. You can click the image to be taken directly to the blog post it was uploaded to, or click “show info” to see an overlay with the post title, a snippet of the body, and some profile information about the blogger who uploaded it. We also wrote a Blogger Play FAQ with more information.

***

Everyone have a terrific day. Until tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

I'ao Valley Mau'i

Ocean View

Looking Down The Valley

I'ao Needle

I'ao Stream

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

BEST TUESDAY

IN A LONG TIME

Not good. Definitely not GREAT. But the best Tuesday I've seen in a very long time.

Logged in and heard #27 (TMR) pick up to OGG. 1 minute later #22 (Kimo) also picked up to OGG. I was now 3rd up in the Wailea rotation.

#17 (Maui Jim) gets a dinner run into south Kihei. Then #05 (Tina) is dispatched for an OGG. I am now 1st up!

I get a hotel-to-hotel, $5.60.

#17 had checked back in to Wailea, as had #25 (Lee), another day-shift holdover. So I am now 3rd up again.

#17 gets an OGG and so did #25. I am back to 1st position.

Wailea to Sarentos. Which sits right on the Wailea/Kihei divide line. Just into Kihei.

No out-of-town runs for me. Oh, we had them but my karma was being pissed on. I wonder which one of the Fates I had drawn the attention of.

I thought my luck was going to change when I learned of a 4:30a to OGG from Wailea. I was doing a set of in-town pu-pus when #21 (Mary) checked in to Wailea at 3:40a. She was 1st up and there went my only shot for a "money" fare. Finished the last of my town runs, refueled and headed to Wailea to turn over the phone and reservations. Arrived just as the folks showed up.

Oh, well. As Chief Dan George said in the movie "Little Big Man":

"Sometimes the magic works and sometimes it doesn't."

As I say:

FECES OCCURS!

12 fares / 76 miles / 2nd quarter $100 bracket

***

I hope you enjoy this:

A little boy goes to his father and asks,

"Daddy, how was I born?"

The father answers,

"Well son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway!

Your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo. Then I set up a date via e-mail with your Mom and we met at a cyber-cafe.

We sneaked into a secluded room, where your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive. As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither
one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a little Pop-Up appeared that said:

(Scroll Down)

'You got Male!'"

***

Everybody enjoy your day and I'll see you tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

---

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Kona Coast Big Island

Makena Mau'i

Nice To Be In Hawai'i

Secluded

Wailua Bay Kaua'i

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

THE BIGGEST "ASS"

IN AMERICA

Rush Limbaugh

For my readers outside of North America, Rush is an ultra-conservative radio talk-show host. He has the #1 rated radio show in America.

The story is here. From FOX NEWS, our conservative National TV Network.




"Let's all be careful out there!"